In communication systems, typically downlink data is provided with much more bandwidth than uplink data. When a user is required to send significant information from a mobile device to a base station, resources are typically requested.
One way to do this, as indicated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,757,541 to Achour et al., the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, uses a reverse supplemental channel (R-SCH) for the mobile device, the R-SCH being assigned a data rate.
Supplemental Channel Request Messages (SCRM) are sent in the uplink asking for a given reverse supplemental channel with a defined data rate. In a conventional approach which implements a CDMA stack, the rate is determined periodically, for example, every one to five seconds. Field tests of devices implementing the code have found that, in some instances, the device requests a lower rate than that which the device is capable of achieving based on its power and traffic conditions.